The Bongo Experimentation
by Ultrawoman
Summary: When Sheldon lets anarchy into his life (when he can't get his haircut as he wants) what if Penny becomes a larger part of the crazy he allows to take over? In the end, that can only be a good thing... right? (Eventual Shenny)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, ever time I rewatch The Werewolf Transformation, I feel as though it was a lost Shenny oppurtunity. I'm sure others felt the same and wrote the own version, but this is going to be mine and I hope I can do the couple justice. I have't written all that much TBBT fic yet, but most of what I have done is Shenny. Basically, I'm just hoping this story won't suck! lol**

_**(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, and other folks that aren't me.)**_

Chapter 1

"I have spent my whole life trying to bring order to the universe by carefully planning every moment of every day," Sheldon explained what Leonard and Penny already knew. "But all my efforts, our dinner schedule, my pyjama rotation, my bowel movement spreadsheet, it's clear now, I've been wasting my time," he explained with a wave of his hand.

Penny was astounded. She never heard Sheldon talk this way. It had been startling enough when he didn't go crazy over the fact she was sitting in his spot, and now he seemed willing to abandon all his whack-a-doodle forms of organisation, because he finally realised the world wouldn't end just because something changed. That in itself made her feel like the Earth was spinning the wrong way, and yet it had to be a good thing for her friend.

"Y'know, Sheldon, sometimes it's nice not knowing what's coming," she told him, leaning on the counter opposite where he was making a drink. "I mean, look at me and Leonard. We went out, we broke up, now we're trying again. We don't know what's gonna happen."

"Oh, please," the physicist rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows what's going to happen," he told her with a look she didn't care to meet.

Penny hated knowing he was right. She knew her and Leonard were never going to really work out, no happily ever after was swimming around on their horizon. He was a good friend, someone to fall back on when things got rough. He wasn't her knight in shining armour, not a hero, not good enough to make her heart pound with a kiss or passionate enough to truly excite her in the bedroom. He was a nice guy, that was all she could really say, a friend with benefits in so many ways.

Somewhere along the line, Penny had zoned out and came to after Sheldon declared he would 'embrace the chaos' and Leonard asked what he wanted to do first.

"I don't know," his friend said with an odd tone to his voice. "I could do anything," he smiled as he rounded the edge of the counter, his eyes fixed on Penny then.

She wasn't sure how to take that look. From any other man, she might have been able to guess where their intentions lie. When it came to Sheldon, she had almost learnt all his quirks well enough to second guess him, but this was different. This was like being faced with a new man, a completely different person. He was Sheldon unbound, capable of anything, and Penny found she couldn't breathe as she waited to see what he would do next.

"All bets are off. The world is my oyster," said Sheldon as he considered his next move.

There were approximately one thousand, four hundred, and eighty nine things he had considered over his years of restraint that he knew he could never actually do. They ran from the mundane of wearing Saturday's underwear on a Thursday, to the crazy and wild. Most of that deranged end of the spectrum seemed to involve Penny in some way or other, Sheldon realised, as he recalled so many things that came into his mind but were never done, never even spoken of or seriously considered until this moment.

It never really occurred to Sheldon not to make a move on Penny simply because Leonard liked her and fancied to make some kind of incomprehensible and impossible fairytale ending with her. No, Sheldon had certain ideas about keeping his life ordered and organised. Penny was the very opposite of these things. Messy and wild, and whilst she was usually in a clean and fresh-smiling state herself, the idea of getting as close to her as Leonard dared was too frightening a thing for poor Sheldon to really consider on hygiene grounds alone.

He had been standing there too long, staring like a dumb mute at his room-mate's girlfriend. Going wild was all well and good, and doing so with Penny might be exhilarating, but Sheldon couldn't do it. Maybe it was his friendship with Leonard that stooped him, maybe it was the hygiene angle, it might even have been thoughts of Amy Farrah-Fowler, though he highly doubted that last one. No, Sheldon knew he just hadn't the guts to go that far, not right now. He allowed himself an almost inaudible sigh of defeat before painting on a smile.

"I've got it," he said, turning his attention more towards Leonard then. "I'm going to put on my Tuesday pyjamas tonight," he told his friend, before practically running away to his bedroom.

Penny let out a breath she hardly knew she'd been holding then. She was oddly disappointed that Sheldon's boundary-pushing had only extended as far as pyjamas. If his aim was to shake things up in the bedroom, she could have shown him all kinds of better ways. The blonde's mouth dropped open wide when she realised what thoughts she had just been having. Sex with Sheldon, the idea ought never to enter her head, not at all, and yet there it was and somehow it wasn't half bad. She forced a neutral look when she realised Leonard was turning to speak to her, expressing worry for his friend's 'condition'.

"He'll be fine," she waved away his concern, more bothered by the tripping out of her own brain than Sheldon's right now. "I, er... I'm gonna go," she said, leaving fast.

Leonard was a little bemused not to get so much as a goodbye kiss before she left. Penny acted weird sometimes though, and the physicist told himself that was probably how all beautiful women acted with their boyfriends. After all, she was really the only one he ever dated so he had no frame of reference. He chose not to worry about it and moved back to the couch to put away the chess pieces - he still couldn't figure out how Penny beat him so easily on her first game!

Vaguely, Leonard wondered if maybe Sheldon had tried to teach chess to Penny before. They did spend quite a bit of time together during the latest break up between the odd couple who were now giving it another try. Still, it would be strange for Sheldon not to mention it, he did so like to crow about being able to teach Penny or any other 'normal' person a new skill. However unflattering it seemed, to Sheldon such a thing was akin to training an ape.

"Er, Sheldon," he called, tapping on his friend's bedroom door. "You never taught Penny anything about chess, did you?" he checked.

Sheldon stopped half way through buttoning up his pyjama shirt. The moment Leonard mentioned Penny he forgot to breathe somehow. It was as if he were panicking but he wasn't sure why he should. Leonard was not smart enough to read minds, even Sheldon wasn't so far advanced in his mental powers as to achieve that. Focusing on the actual question asked, Sheldon answered quickly and succinctly.

"No, Leonard, I never played chess with Penny, or tried to teach her anything about the game," he assured his friend.

In a moment, Leonard was gone, muttering his way down the hall. Sheldon didn't hear a word. He sat down on the edge of his bed in silence, feeling troubled. As if his journey into chaos were not strange enough, now his mind seemed to be fixating on Penny without his meaning for it too. He had such a ridiculously strong urge to touch her, to go completely crazy and just grab her and kiss her, like some overzealous, wrongly labelled 'hero' in one of those ridiculous so-called romantic movies that the blonde herself enjoyed at times. Sheldon was not a kisser, he kept a safe and reasonable distance from all people, even avoiding handshakes whenever possible. It was true that he had thrown the rule book out of the window tonight, but there still had to be limits, didn't there?

"Oh, this is preposterous," Sheldon muttered to himself as he finished buttoning his shirt and got into bed.

Not everything he did in his new chaotic persona had to be about Penny, it couldn't and wouldn't be so. Leonard would not appreciate his room-mate even thinking about his girlfriend that way, and Sheldon could remain a man of honour, even as he embraced possible chaos. No need to step over too many boundaries all at once, he told himself, and began to think of other things he might do tomorrow instead of going to work.

In a universe of infinite possibilities, with none of his own rules to bind him, and not caring for those laid down by anyone else, what should Sheldon do? What would Spock do? What would his fellow scientists do?

It might have been mere minutes or a great many hours, as Dr Sheldon Cooper drifted in and out of sleep, wondering on all the wonderful, exiting, thrilling things he could do with his young life.

Sheldon was hardly aware of the fact it was past midnight, when he suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, knowing what exactly he wanted to do. He wouldn't wait until morning, daylight would make no difference now. In amongst his wonderings on the great minds of history and their eccentricities, Sheldon had thought of Richard Feynman. He had to get up, he had to go now. There was no doubt at all in Sheldon's mind that what he really needed to do was play bongos!

_To Be Continued..._

**A/N2: I know that was short, and possibly pointless, but there's is a point to it, I swear. Any thoughts so far? Reviews are helpful ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, that was... wow, sooo many reviews! I was not expecting that. So here's the second chapter, and it's short, but I think you Shenny fans will like it anyway... I hope?**

_**(For disclaimer, see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 2

It was three in the morning, which as far as Sheldon could tell was an excellent time for playing bongos. He wasn't sure if it was the rhythm he was hammering out or the fact he was sat here alone in the dark at the wrong end of the couch that made it feel so good. Perhaps there was another reason, but he declined to let his mind wander too far into that particular realm of thinking. It had to do with ways to wake up Penny and get her attention, and none of that could lead to any good.

The only person he seemed to have summoned to his impromptu bongo concert so far was Leonard, and the little guy didn't exactly look thrilled to be there anyway.

"Hello, Leonard, do you like my bongos?" asked Sheldon, beating out a rhythm to his words like some kind of hippie poet from decades before. "Bet you didn't know that I had bongos."

That was how the odd altercation began and continued, whilst across the hall Penny woke up with a banging in her head that she blamed on the copious amounts of wine, at least at first. She had started drinking just as soon as she got home, convinced she needed something to calm down her brain activity that had gone into over-drive, and all over Sheldon Cooper.

Penny always wondered if she was a little crazy, hanging out with the guys and all. Lately, spending so much time with Amy, it wouldn't be a stretch to think a little of her fruit loopyness had rubbed off either, but it was only today when Penny had really realised how nuts she might be. Thinking about sex with Sheldon, yeah, that was a new level of whack-a-doodle that she couldn't even quantify. Then she had started giggling when she realised she just used a 'sciencey' word and poured herself another glass.

It was a few minutes before she realised she was about to pass out on the couch that Penny had taken herself off to bed. She couldn't understand why she was now awake again, past three in the morning, with a pounding in her head. That didn't usually happen until much later in the day. Unless of course the banging drum was outside of her own brain. It was Leonard yelling 'Stop it!' over and over that made her realise the truth.

Getting up out of bed with a growl of frustration, she stomped over to the boys' apartment and pushed open the door without even thinking. It was a little shocking to find it unlocked at night. Sheldon was usually so crazy about predators and burglars and all, but then this was Sheldon 2.0 - the crazy chaos-embracing version.

"Why did you get bongos?" she asked the physicist with no lack of frustration, pushing her messed up hair out of her face.

There was some explanation coming out of his mouth and then out of Leonard about another scientist that played the instrument in question. Penny didn't hear the answer. Even at three in the morning, seeing Sheldon on the wrong end of the couch was shocking enough to make her start. What caught her attention next was the grin on his face. He was happy. Sheldon was as giddy as a hillbilly kid who just stumbled into Daddy's meth lab.

It occurred to Penny that Sheldon rarely looked so happy about anything. Getting him to smile genuinely at people was a tough gig, and even his favourite DVD boxsets or comic books never made him look quite so smiley and carefree. Hell, she was pretty sure this was a bigger smile than he even wore for koala bears!

There was a freedom that came with not living by the rules, this Penny knew very well herself. She had few regulations in her own life, to be truthful, and even less she hadn't gone ahead and broken anyway. For Sheldon, who had self-imposed rules on just about everything, this experience of doing whatever he liked whenever he wanted must be so freeing, so good for him. Suddenly, Penny couldn't actually mind too much that she'd been woken at some ungodly hour by bongos.

Sheldon looked oddly at Leonard as his friend tried in vain to get him to see reason. He wanted him to go to bed, consider work in the morning, adhere to the room-mate agreement. He just wasn't listening, and honestly, Penny kinda wanted to cheer for him. She didn't know for sure, but as smart as Sheldon was, all the work he had done, he must be loaded. If he wanted to quit his job, he'd survive, and probably be much happier, whether he did or did not in fact start the bongo band he spoke of.

Their ridiculous semi-argument over with, Sheldon got up from the couch and turned away from Leonard. It was only then Penny noticed she was stood in the doorway, blocking the bongo player's escape route. Even when she noticed she didn't move, she just stared up at that smile on Sheldon's face, the bright clear look in his eyes like he was seeing the world properly for the first time and loving every second. It made her smile too.

"Where are you going?" she asked, wondering when her voice got so soft, almost wanting to say that wherever it was she'd go with him.

Hell, running around Pasadena in the middle of the night with chaotic-minded Sheldon sounded like more fun than it should. Of course, the true answer to her question was that Sheldon didn't know the answer. This whole night was unplanned and unprecedented. Everything was usually laid out so carefully both in his physical world and in his mind. It was genuinely freeing to just do whatever one felt like from moment to moment, damning any consequences that might not come. For the first time in his life, Sheldon was risking the fact that Einstein had been wrong, that actions did not have reactions, that consequences did not exist, or if they did, they were not so bad as he had thought before.

In this moment, he would go wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted, and nothing bad would happen. Only good things seemed to be happening tonight, like buying bongos. Penny still wanted to know where he was going, and there was only one response Sheldon wanted to give to that in this moment.

"Wherever the music takes me, kitten," he told her, with a lot more Southern drawl than she'd heard him use in long time.

What startled Penny more than the accent was the arm around her back that suddenly pulled her in close, and then there were lips on hers. Sheldon's lips on hers. She hadn't had time to breathe because she was never in her life expecting this to happen. A kiss with Sheldon, the idea would have made her shudder before, and yet experiencing it was not gross or even weird. Hell, it was pretty hot!

For a guy with no experience, or so he had told her, the man could kiss. Maybe he read a book about it or studied other people doing it? Penny couldn't think about that now. She could barely hear Leonard yelling at them for what they were doing. It was only then Penny realised that Sheldon wasn't just kissing her, she had been kissing back, as well as being practically bent over backwards in a dip to end all dips whilst it was happening.

"Hmm, interesting," said Sheldon when he finally let her go, barely sparing the time to put Penny back on her feet before he walked out.

All bruised lips and wobbly knees, the blonde put one hand over her mouth and stared wide eyed after the man that literally took her breath away.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Leonard, taking the words right out of Penny's mind, she was sure of it.

Honestly, she had no explanation, and doubted Sheldon had either. He was now halfway down the stairs, back to singing about the wonder of his bongos. The truth was, Dr Cooper was no less confused by his behaviour than Penny was. He didn't kiss women, unless it was his mother and that was hardly the same thing. A peck on the cheek of Momma or Meemaw, even Missy, just didn't count as kissing a girl. There was Amy, but she always initiated any kind of closeness between them and Sheldon knew for sure that kissing Penny would be vastly different, even before he tried it.

Though his legs carried Sheldon down the stairs and out of the front door of the building, he wasn't really thinking about where he was going. Beating out a feint and random rhythm on his bongos, his mind wandered to Penny and only her.

There was no explanation, not even any forethought to his kissing her. In his new state of chaos, Sheldon operated purely on instinct, desire, and dreams now, with as little actual thought as possible. The more he tried to live without the rules, the more he liked it, the more he wished to further embrace it. Of course he hadn't quite considered how much he wished to embrace Penny until it happened.

It was only now he had stopped walking, his hand still on top of the bongo skins, that Sheldon realised people were staring. These were unsavoury folks out in the dark. Probably sailors and harlots, and he was out here alone, in his nightwear. Even allowing chaos to reign did not mean Sheldon wished to be attacked, propositioned, or otherwise used. Going home seemed like a non-option with Leonard and Penny still there. On some level, even Dr Cooper knew he might have crossed some kind of line, kissing a woman who was supposed to be dating his friend. Amy would understand. Good old reliable Amy Farrah-Fowler who would forgive him almost anything and saw Penny as some kind of figure to be worshipped. She was surely understand his predicament.

"Excuse me..." said a voice Sheldon barely heard, but he definitely felt the stranger's hand on his shoulder.

With a yelp, the scientist took off at a run, with a death grip on his bongos, and a flailing step akin to Kermit the Frog having a panic attack. He wouldn't stop until he reached Amy's door.

_To Be Continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am entirely grateful for the reviewage, really, I am. Unfortunately, as much as I love this fandom and pairing, I don't find it as easy to write as some of my others. What I'm saying is, the fic probably won't be very long or very good, and updates may be sporadic, but I'll do my best, and as I say, I do appreciate all the feedback.**

_**(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 3

Leonard hadn't said a word for five whole minutes. Penny couldn't really complain since she hadn't spoken either. Honestly, she still felt in a state of shock. Sheldon had kissed her. Sheldon Cooper, the gangly oddball from across the hall, who called sex 'coitus' and went crazy if another person so much as breathed near his food or sat in his spot. He had kissed her, a full-on lip-lock, that was hot enough to make her toes curl. Penny couldn't explain it, not why he did it or why she responded. If she tried she had a feeling her head would explode with the effort, and yet she just knew that before long Leonard was going to ask.

"What the hell just happened?" he said eventually, just as Penny expected him too.

"I... I don't know," she forced out, her hand finally dropping away from her lips. "I mean, Sheldon, he's... he's gone..."

She whistled and spun her fingers by her head in some kind of gesture that seemed to signify 'crazy' to her boyfriend. Penny wasn't sure he was buying that this whole thing was Sheldon's fault. After all, she had kind of kissed him back. No shoving or struggling, no slapping his face. Penny had kissed Sheldon just as much as he kissed her, and Leonard had seen the whole thing. There was simply no denying anything, even if she wanted to.

"I get that Sheldon is quirky, we all know that," Leonard said snippily. "He's decided to let his life go to anarchy, and that's his crazy-ass choice. What I don't understand is why you just let him kiss you like that!"

Penny opened her mouth to answer only to close it again fast. She didn't have an explanation. Her brain had established that long before her boyfriend ever asked the question. Somehow she hoped she would come up with something in the in-between time. No such luck.

"I was just... floored," she said eventually. "Shock is a weird thing, and honestly, I'd've been less surprised if Sheldon put the moves on you!" she said, flinging her arms around in some over the top but emphatic gestures.

It was a lie, a complete and total one. Sure, she genuinely was shocked when Sheldon grabbed her and laid his lips on hers, but she had been pretty sure for a while now that he did lean towards women rather than men, if he leaned at all. For all of his talk about being practically asexual, he did spend plenty of time trying to sneak looks that time she was naked in front of him. Even when he realised he had grabbed her boob rather than her arm, he hadn't been in a huge hurry to let go. Of course, thinking of this now was not helping anyone.

"I can't believe this," muttered Leonard, walking away towards the kitchen, but then immediately circling back. "I should've hit him. I should've. For God sakes, _you_ should've hit him!"

"What? I'm not hitting Sheldon, and neither are you," said Penny, putting her hands on her hips. "This was something and nothing, just Sheldon going all 'chaos theory' and acting out. It didn't mean anything."

"You really think that's all it was?" asked Leonard immediately, watching her closely.

He wasn't buying it. Penny always thought she was crazy when she looked at Sheldon and thought maybe he was looking at her with more than his usual glance. He did like to spend time with her, even when she and Leonard were broken up. She was the one he ran to with his problems or when he was sick, then there was his reaction when she was naked. All in all, with any other guy, she would come to the conclusion that he probably did like her that way, but this was Sheldon Cooper. The idea of him liking any woman that way seemed so completely unlikely, and that included Amy Farrah-Fowler who was technically his girlfriend. Penny couldn't imagine Sheldon ever kissed Amy the way he just kissed her. For one thing the nerd girl would've wanted to share that particular piece of information with everybody ever. Besides, until today when Sheldon decided to put a little crazy into his life, there was no chance of him even considering that kind of behaviour.

"Are you even listening to me?" asked Leonard when he realised Penny was looking elsewhere and not responding to any of his points about Sheldon.

"Of course I am," she lied. "Or, y'know, the other thing."

It was insane. She had done nothing in the last five to ten minutes but lie her ass off to a man that was supposed to be her boyfriend, who she was supposed to love. The truth was, she did love Leonard. He was kind of her best friend in a lot of ways. He knew everything about her, he rarely judged, and they got along great. The sex was less eventful than she'd like, and they really did have trouble keeping a romantic relationship running. It made her wonder sometimes why they bothered trying. Penny always got a horrible sick feeling in the pit of her stomach when she got close to admitting, even to herself, that she got back together with Leonard so often because it was easy, because it was better than being alone.

"Shouldn't we go after Sheldon?" she said after a moment's pause, her hand to her forehead as something in her brain started to pound worse now than when she could hear bongos! "He's out alone in the dark, in his pyjamas..."

"He's not a child," Leonard complained. "Besides he wanted anarchy, that's exactly what he'll get on the streets of Pasadena at three a.m."

Penny's eyes went wide at his attitude. He had his arms folded over his chest and was practically stomping his foot like a petulant child. Penny would've smiled when she realised she got that word from Sheldon, but she was too mad to feel good about anything right now.

"You know what he's like in unfamiliar surroundings, and how he feels about the streets at night," she told him crossly. "The state he's in right now, he could get himself killed! Some friend you are."

She was muttering by the end as she turned and left, slamming the door to her own apartment, even when Leonard called her name behind her. Penny couldn't deal with him right now, she was too angry and far too confused. It wasn't all his fault. Yes, she had hoped that a missing friend who might be in danger would be more important to her boyfriend than petty jealousy. At the same time, if Sheldon had been any other guy daring to kiss her like that, she would have gone crazy. She'd have been beyond mad if the shoe was on the other foot, if some girl had kissed Leonard that way, and right in front of her too.

"Get dressed," Penny told herself just as soon as she realised she was still stood half way to the bedroom, staring into space.

She meant what she said to Leonard, they needed to go and look for Sheldon, make sure he was okay. As she threw off her nightwear and wriggled into a pair of jeans and a clean top, Penny mulled it over. The chances were good that if Sheldon got scared in the dark or startled by strangers, he'd run for familiar ground. What she really couldn't explain was the knot in her stomach when she realised the most likely safe spot he would head for was Amy's apartment.

* * *

"Not that I'm complaining, but why is it that you're here at such an hour, Sheldon?" asked Amy as she poured tea into two cups.

When he first arrived, bongos in hand, poor Amy had assumed it was some kind of musical booty call from her boyfriend. No such luck, as he had quickly informed her. There seemed to have been some kind of incident in the street, at least that was what Sheldon quickly told her, before moving onto talk of his bongos and how he had them because Richard Feynman had bongos.

"And I don't have to tell you who Richard Feynman is," he had said with an odd smile. "He is not a purple leprechaun that lives inside of anyone's rectal cavity."

Yeah, that part had Amy confused, even more than Sheldon showing up on her doorstep at three a.m. in his nightwear, with bongos under his arm.

"Can't a person drop in on a friend, especially a girlfriend, at any time of day or night?" asked Sheldon, just a little too cryptic for Amy's liking, as she handed him his tea.

One sip and he made a face, stopping her in her tracks when she opened her mouth to answer his counter-question.

"Y'know which tea I like best? Long Island Iced Tea," he sighed happily at the thought.

Amy frowned. Sheldon really didn't drink as a rule. A sip of wine at an occasion perhaps, but that was all. She had heard tales of what he could get up to if he really went to town on the booze, tales that ended with his pants coming off.

"I can make Long Island Iced Tea," she said quickly, scrambling back to the kitchen so fast that she almost fell on her face half way there.

Sheldon wasn't really paying attention. His mind kept wandering. Now that he had let chaos and anarchy into his life, no rules to live to, things were actually a lot more complicated than before. Staying faithful to Amy had never been a consideration because no woman was really of interest to him that way, not even his so-called girlfriend actually. Now he felt he ought to confess his kiss with Penny, even if he really had no explanation to give for his behaviour.

Then he thought of Leonard and how he had betrayed him too. Sheldon was supposed to be Leonard's best friend, and vice versa. Though he knew little of what he believed was colloquially called 'The Bro Code', Sheldon did understand that kissing a woman who was in a relationship with one's friend, best or otherwise, was taboo, or even completely unacceptable. There may have to be a dual or something. Not that it would matter, Sheldon would doubtless win any contest of that kind, but he would miss Leonard if he were forced to run him through.

"One Long Island Iced Tea," said Amy with a grin as she presented the drink to Sheldon.

It wasn't quite as it should be, since she didn't have the exact ingredients to hand, but she hoped it was good enough that Sheldon would drink it without complaint. He took a long swig and made a face that showed surprise but there was a smile in there too.

"Yup, just as I remember. A real kick in the pants," he told her. "The aftertaste is a little... hmm, I don't know exactly how to describe, but then food and drink made domestically often tastes a little different to its restaurant counterpart," he sighed, taking another drink before putting the glass down carefully on the table.

"So, here we are," said Amy with a wide smile. "Just two people, boyfriend and girlfriend, alone on the couch at three a.m.," she sighed, inching closer across the couch cushions.

Just as her hand strayed to Sheldon's knee, he leapt up.

"Amy, I kissed Penny," he said quickly, making her look up at him in shock.

"You? You kissed Penny?" she asked, as if the concept of it were the most insane thing she ever heard.

"I did," admitted Sheldon with a single nod, immediately picking up his glass and downing several more gulps of iced tea. "I know this goes against our boyfriend-girlfriend agreement, and even the general moral and ethical conduct I set for myself," he explained. "I have no real explanation for my actions..."

"None needed," said Amy, making a cutting motion with her hand to draw a line under the whole thing. "I can only assume she made you an offer you couldn't refuse, and I can understand that. In your position, I would've done the same thing and submitted to the moment."

By the end of what she was saying her voice was no more than a breathy whisper and Sheldon frowned at the reaction to his confession. As he understood it, faithful girlfriends were supposed to be affronted if their boyfriends betrayed them by engaging in any kind of physical contact with another woman... or man, for that matter. Of course, Amy wasn't like other women. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes not.

"I'm sure I never knew another person more enamoured with Penny than you, Amy Farrah-Fowler," he said definitely. "And that includes both Leonard and myself."

Sheldon sat down heavily in his seat, drinking down the last of his tea. His brow wrinkled twice as hard as he replayed his own words in his head then. He wasn't enamoured with Penny, that was a preposterous thing for him to have said, and he didn't know why he ever would.

"I can't deny that Penny is the finest specimen of a woman I have ever met," said Amy then, cutting into Sheldon's thought unbidden. "She's so sweet and kind... and sometimes she makes me wonder exactly who my loins burn harder for, her or you," she admitted, eyes dipping to the carpet.

Sheldon didn't know what to think now. First he had to deal with his own feelings for Penny that he couldn't understand, and now Amy was confessing that she really was having almost the same problem entirely. Where they went from here, Sheldon had no idea, but he was clear on one fact;

"Amy? Please make more iced tea."

_To Be Continued..._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I am so bad at writing this and at updating this... Sorry, peops!**

_**(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 4

"For the last time, Leonard, it didn't mean anything!" Penny yelled as they came down the hall towards Amy's apartment.

He had followed her across the hall when she walked out on him, determined their conversation wasn't over. Leonard found his girlfriend already dressed and hunting down her keys. She was serious about going to look for Sheldon, and though they had another round of their stupid fight before hand, he did eventually go get dressed himself, insisting he was going with Penny to find their missing friend.

Penny couldn't decide if her boyfriend was coming with her out of genuine concern for Sheldon, or if he was just worried what would happen between his friend and his girlfriend if they were left alone in the dark somewhere. The very thought made Penny shiver in a strange way. She had no sexual or romantic feelings for Sheldon! It would be like being attracted to a robot or a child, or a weird hybrid robot-child. She tried to tell herself all that was true, and yet she couldn't help but think of that kiss Sheldon had laid on her before he left the apartment tonight. That was not a move a child or a robot could make. That was a man kissing her back there in the Cooper-Hofstader homestead. A man that had pretty much made her toes curl. Penny couldn't explain it, not to Leonard and not to herself. He had tried to press her, question her, cajole her, the whole drive around town and the final leg of the journey to Amy's house. The only time he was quiet and not bugging Penny was when she had him actually call Sheldon's girlfriend and check if he was over at her place.

It was both a relief and a horrible blow to realise that was just exactly where he had gone. Penny couldn't explain that either. She didn't want Sheldon out on the street, in the dark, freaking out at every bump and sound. At least at Amy's place he was safe, figuratively speaking. Penny knew how desperate Amy was to get Sheldon into bed. She talked of little else lately, just wanting to get her some kisses, some serious loving. Penny didn't really like to hear about it before anyway, but now just thinking on it made her feel nauseous. She told herself it was because prior to tonight she never thought for a moment Sheldon would make a move, or even allow Amy the chance to initiate anything of significance. Now the rules had changed, in that there were no rules. If Sheldon was willing to kiss Penny all out of the blue, God only knew what he would be willing to do with Amy, his actual girlfriend. Penny swallowed hard and tried to put it out of her head. Leonard made it impossible, starting up another round of their latest fight. They fought a lot lately, and Penny tried to care about that. Sometimes she wondered if it wasn't better when she and Leonard were apart. She struggled to recall why they got together again, except for the fact she was lonely and so very tired of being a single girl. It seemed like lame reasoning for rekindling a romance. Right now, Penny wondered if it was really all that romantic at all. Some mediocre sex, a few nice gifts, a friend to talk to, and a person to snuggle with when she was lonely. That didn't have to be Leonard, it could've been anybody. Right now, she wasn't sure why it was ever Leonard in the first place, if she were honest.

"I'm just a little confused as to why, of all people, Sheldon would kiss you, if there wasn't some encouragement going on," he snapped at her, arms folded across his chest all indignantly.

Penny let out a long breath.

"What do you want me to say, Leonard?" she asked, pushing stray hair back behind both ears. "Seriously? What do you want from me? You want me to tell you I've been parading in front of Sheldon in my underwear to get his attention? Coming onto him in the laundry room? Batting my eyes while I talk about Star Trek, or Battlestar, or whatever the heck else Dr Whack-a-doodle is into, so he'll lay his lips on me the first time he decides to take a break from his routine nuttiness?" she asked, too loudly.

Leonard squirmed.

"Did you do any of that?" he eventually asked in a small voice.

Penny let out a sound of pure frustration as she seriously considered smacking her head against the wall. Instead she let out her frustrations on Amy's door, slamming her hand against the wood, rather thanknocking carefully and quietly. It didn't take long for the bespectacled little woman to appear, with a wide smile when she realised Penny had arrived.

"Please tell me he's still here?" asked the blonde, only for Amy to open the door wider and allow Penny and Leonard to see Sheldon stretched out on the couch.

He had clearly been sleeping there, but the overly loud knocking on the door had woken him with a bit of a start.

"This is where you were all night? On Amy's couch?" asked Penny, hands on her hips as she stared at Sheldon like an angry mother.

"Yeah, there are only so many times a woman can say 'how about the bed?'" Amy grumbled, though nobody really heard or paid any attention.

Sheldon wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. His head was throbbing, akin to a man playing a bass drum rather violently... if the bass drum was in fact his brain. Sheldon rarely used such analogies, he never had a need before. It was only after three of Amy's ice teas that he realised they must be alcoholic. After that, everything was a bit of a blur. He was only happy to realise he was still wearing all the clothes he had come here in!

"Penny, please don't yell," he said quietly, one hand going to the side of his head as he gingerly sat up straight. "I think I discovered my very definite limit on Long Island Ice Tea last night."

"Ooh, ouch," said Penny with some genuine sympathy as she realised what was wrong.

Amy got him drunk and still Sheldon wouldn't sleep with her. Penny wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Such ridiculous situations had presented themselves since Sheldon decided to throw all the rules out the window. To think a haircut, or rather the lack of one, had started all this in the first place.

"Sweetie, you'll be okay" she said gently as she sat down beside him and rubbed his back more out of habit and instinct than anything else, she supposed. "Couple of aspirin, a lot of water, and some sleep. It'll get better."

"I don't like hangovers," said Sheldon, shaking his head very carefully. "Since I assume that is what I'm experiencing."

"Seems like," Penny nodded, looking genuinely sorry for him. "Next time, stick to regular tea, okay?"

Amy hurried off to the bathroom cabinet to find aspirin, and no-one really noticed her go. Penny's attention was all on Sheldon, his own concentrated on stopping the room from spinning. Leonard just couldn't take his eyes off the scene before him. His girlfriend, with her arm around a guy that kissed her last night, like it was perfectly fine. It made him want to yell, not least because that would make Sheldon's head pound some more.

"I'm sorry, are we not even going to talk about what happened last night?" he asked, perhaps just a little too loudly for anyone's comfort.

"Leonard, not now," Penny sighed heavily. "He's already suffering enough."

"Oh, so because he's hungover, I'm supposed to be okay that he kissed my woman!" he asked crossly.

Penny's eyes went comically wide as she looked up at him.

"Or my girlfriend, the woman I'm dating... beautiful woman, not _my_ woman," he back-tracked fast, realising his big mistake too late.

Penny just rolled her eyes.

"I'm afraid I have a universal apology to make," said Sheldon, sounding pained as one hand went to his head again. "Penny, Leonard, Amy," he said as his girlfriend returned to the room, squinting at each of them since even the moderate levels of light in the apartment seemed far too bright right now. "I apologise for the chaotic behaviour I've been exhibiting if it has upset any of you at all. My kissing Penny was..."

He paused in deep thought apparently, or maybe because he was going to puke, nobody could be sure. After almost a full minute with no more words spoken, Penny continued for him.

"It was just one of those wacky things that happened," she said easily, shrugging her shoulders like it really was no big deal at all. "Y'know, like a drunken mistake."

"But I wasn't drunk until I came here and discovered there's actually no tea in Long Island Iced Tea," Sheldon was quick to explain.

Yeah, because that was helping!

"You weren't drunk on booze, sweetie," said Penny gently. "At least, not when the kissing happened," she sympathised as he shook and winced through his hangover beside her. "You were on, like, a chaos high. You threw out the rule book and... I don't know, you felt all liberal."

"Liberated," he corrected like a reflex.

"Honestly, Sheldon, I think you exhibited perfectly reasonable behaviour in the circumstances," said Amy easily. "I mean, just look at her," she sighed, staring at Penny in a most disconcerting way.

The blonde shifted awkwardly in her seat, making a particular point of not looking in Amy's direction for the moment. She was highly aware of Leonard's presence still, standing there with his arms folded across his chest and a face like thunder. He was being so ridiculous about all this, at least that was what she was telling herself right now, just because it was easier than admitting anything else.

"So, we'll go home now and forget all this craziness ever happened, okay?" she said, mostly to Sheldon, but then to Leonard too.

Her boyfriend shrugged, as if he might acquiesce. Given that Sheldon had apologised and was now suffering quite enough, plus he was most likely to go back to his usual well-ordered self after his ordeal, there was nothing really to fight about anymore. That was almost a disappointing thought, even if Penny didn't want to think about why she felt that way.

"I'm not sure I'll ever forget the things I experienced last night," said Sheldon then, looking over at Penny with such an intensity in his eyes she wasn't sure how to deal.

Honestly, she really needed to look away, and yet she found she couldn't quite manage it. Sheldon could be talking about anything he did in his twenty four hours of anarchy, and yet he seemed to be talking specifically about the part that involved her. Kissing her couldn't have been this great experience for a guy like him. Sure, Penny was a good kisser, she was all aware of that, and Sheldon was a kissing virgin as far as she knew so he had no frame of reference in the first place. Maybe it had meant something to him, maybe, and if that was the case then they had way bigger problems that she ever considered before. Her own feelings for Sheldon were an odd mix of emotions she didn't much like to think about, but if he liked her too, liked her more than the friend that took him to Disneyland and sang him Soft Kitty when he was sick... Oh, this was bad.

"Well, we... I think right now we should just get you home," she told Sheldon, patting his knee lightly.

Leonard made an incredulous sound at the very idea of last night being swept under the carpet this way.

"I don't think..."

"Not the issue right now, Leonard!" Penny snapped at him just as soon as he opened his mouth.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" he protested, but the glare she sent his way then proved it didn't matter.

"After the things you've been saying so far tonight, I think it's safer that I don't," she said crossly, trying to keep her voice even so as not to further aggravate Sheldon's pounding head.

When she looked his way again, she realised Amy was now perched on the arm of the couch by her boyfriend, encouraging water and aspirin into him. Penny smiled.

"Now, Sheldon, let's get you home, get you feeling better, then I'm going to cut your hair, and all this craziness can end," she said gently.

Sheldon started at her words, whipping his head around so he could look at her. It was a move he immediately regretted as his head swam violently. The cold water hit his stomach at the same moment, and the consequences were about to be spectacular and horrible. Sheldon ran to the bathroom as fast as he could go, and all three friends watched him leave, wondering who was best to follow. It took all of five seconds for Penny to make the decision that it ought to be her.

Walking slowly from the living room and around the corner to the bathroom, she hovered waiting by the door until the heaving stopped and the toilet was flushed. She went to the half-open door and gave it a tap before letting herself in. Sheldon was huddled on the tiled floor by the tub, looking as little like himself as he ever had.

"You okay, sweetie?" she asked pointlessly, since it was evident he was not.

Sheldon gave no answer to her question, even as she came to crouch beside him and put a careful hand to his arm. He looked at her then as if realising she had entered the room for the first time. Poor guy was so messed up right now.

"Penny," he said hoarsely, and she waited for something profound, but it wasn't what she got. "You're not trained. You're not licensed. Most importantly, you don't have access to my haircut records."

She almost laughed at how unexpected his words were. Despite pelting from the room and puking up his guts, Sheldon was still on the haircut thing, still determined that he had haircut records that must be seen by a professional. After everything they'd been through, as if it really mattered.

"Honey, look, we've known each other for a long time now, right?" she said gently, encouraging him to look at her. "You trust me, don't you? C'mon, after everything we've been through together. How much closer do we need to be for you to trust me with a pair of scissors?"

The intensity was back in his eyes as he met her own gaze and Penny swallowed hard. _Closer_. Maybe she had used the wrong word there. This guy had seen her at her lowest ebb before now. He had also seen her naked. Last night he had pulled her body flush with his and kissed the breath out of her. There wasn't very much closer for them to be. It was scary and weird to think about, and yet Penny wasn't sorry for any part of her shared history with Sheldon Cooper, not a second of it.

"Very well," he said eventually, "Penny, you may take me home, and you may cut my hair," he told her, allowing her to help him to his feet before he added the one caveat. "When the room stops spinning."

She tried to reign in a giggle as she helped him back through to the living room. Maybe they were going to be okay after all. Penny just didn't quite know how yet.

_To Be Continued..._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm struggling so much to make this fic be any good, there's a distinct possibility I'm going to give up on it if the next chapter is as tought to write as this one was...**

_**(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 5

Penny wasn't sure what to expect from Sheldon once he got through his hangover. The ride back home in the car was mostly silent, punctuated only by having to pull over twice for Sheldon to heave some more. Penny felt so sorry for the guy. She and Leonard put him to bed, and before another fight could start, she went back to her own place, telling her so-called boyfriend that he better take care of Sheldon or else. She couldn't imagine that he would be anything but the good guy for at least as long as his room-mate was suffering. In the meantime, it seemed best just to stay out of the way until one of them came looking for her.

It wasn't long before Penny was called on. The regular rhythmic knocking of Sheldon on her door was maybe just a little more subdued than usual. He looked better, and he should since it was almost two days since his night of chaos, something wasn't quite right though. Penny was going to ask him what was wrong, but didn't get a chance. He announced he was here for his hair cut, as promised, and hoped it was a convenient time. The thoughtfulness wasn't entirely new, at least not where Penny was concerned, and she smiled as she told him it was fine.

Concentrating on the task at hand was easier and harder all at the same time. There were a hundred things in Penny's head she felt she ought to say and yet none of them were all that willing to be heard. She put all her focus on giving Sheldon a decent haircut, trying not to think about anything else. It didn't come easy when she could hear him breathing, sighing as her fingers ran through his hair...

When finally she was done, she searched for the hand mirror to let him see her work, and made a big deal of cleaning up, as if she had no time to talk or do anything else.

"Thank you," said Sheldon, polite and proper, as he smiled at his reflection in the glass.

Penny let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She didn't know what else she expected him to say. He could've complained about his haircut but she didn't see how. Of course, where Sheldon was concerned, she often didn't see his comments coming. Maybe now the anarchy and chaos was over, she'd stand a slightly better chance, but Penny doubted it somehow.

"So, that's it now, right?" she asked, helping him take off the towel he'd been wearing as a cape. "Back to our regularly scheduled Sheldon?"

He looked overly thoughtful when he got up from the stool and turned to glance her way. Penny braced herself, but wasn't sure what she was expecting, if anything at all.

"I don't know," he said, with no lack of serious consideration. "Certainly, there were advantages to a planned and regimented life," he told her, scientific as ever, "but, the effects of alcohol aside, there was also something freeing and pleasant about living in anarchy, no rules to hold me back."

Penny swallowed hard as his gaze met hers and stuck her to the spot. This could not be good.

"Well, sure," she forced out eventually, digging up a smile from somewhere and hoping it didn't look too delirious - she was starting to feel as if she was going kind of crazy. "I mean, you got to play the bongos, who wouldn't love that?" she half-joked, before turning away.

"Penny?"

Sheldon's hand closing around her wrist was more of a shock than him saying her name. He didn't touch, not as a rule. Penny couldn't help but listen when the little voice in the back of her head reminded her that actually he did, and usually it was her he reached for. She got all the hugs, the friendly pats on the shoulder, all of that. Then the same voice threw their little kissing scene from last night into her mind's eye. Penny felt an involuntary shiver pass through her.

"What is it, sweetie?" she asked, trying for normal and cheery, failing miserably, especially when Sheldon spoke again.

"I'm not sorry," he told her, getting Penny's attention in an instant, her eyes shooting up to meet his own intense gaze again. "I know I should be. The rules of society and friendship dictate that I should have thought of Leonard's feelings, and the Relationship Agreement I have with Amy ought to over-ride everything else, of course, though I believe the mantra is 'bros before hoes'," he rattled out, the way only Sheldon could, and Penny couldn't help but smile. "Whilst I mean no disrespect to Amy or to you by using the gangster vernacular..."

"I know," she interrupted without thinking. "I, er... It's fine," she continued then, shaking her head and pulling her arm from his grasp then, because this was too weird and one of them was just going to have to back off already. "You were living without rules. Any woman who got in your way was going to seem like the perfect candidate for kissing."

She shrugged it off like it was nothing, trying to convince herself she was nuts more than anything else. Sheldon did not have feelings for her and, apart from their oddball friendship, she didn't have feelings for him either. Penny hated that she was silently arguing with herself right now, especially when Sheldon decided to start arguing with her too!

"Not true, Penny," he insisted, following her all the way to her bedroom where she had taken the towel to the laundry basket. "The truth is, I have never really given in to my base urges. As the first and only true example of homo novus, I was half convinced I didn't have the capacity for them," he said thoughtfully. "You, Penny, appear to be the exception to the rule."

"I'm the...?" she began turning around and finding him that much closer than she ever expected. "Okay, weirdest compliment ever," she forced out, even as she looked up and found his eyes looking down into her own.

"It wasn't really supposed to be a compliment, though I can see why your singular position may seem to be a reason for congratulations... I'm getting off topic," he waved a hand and shook his head in unison as he got back on track. "In short, I don't think I will ever be sorry I kissed you," he said too softly, and Penny was pretty sure she forget to breathe when he did so. "As I said, even though I know social rules and protocols ought to have forbidden it, I'm not sorry."

_I'm not sorry either._ Penny opened her mouth to say the words but managed to control herself at the last. She couldn't say that, not to Sheldon. Kissing him back had been wrong, she was dating Leonard. She loved Leonard... didn't she?

"Um, well, you were breaking all the rules," she forced out eventually. "So, it makes sense, I guess."

"Indeed," Sheldon nodded once, his hands clapping together in front of himself and then behind his back instead as he shifted his feet a little. "I suppose now my next decision must be if all the rules are once again to be adhered to or not. Do you have an opinion?" he asked Penny curiously.

"I-I don't know," she admitted honestly. "I mean, everyone needs some rules sometimes. Anarchy and chaos can be dangerous..."

"Agreed," he nodded again.

"But I guess, it's totally possible to be too organised and..." she started to flounder as her eyes filtered from Sheldon to the bed and back.

_Oh God, what am I thinking?!_ Penny felt like she had no control, like she was the crazy one in the room, and given Sheldon's great level of wacky, that was really saying something. She couldn't seriously be considering telling Sheldon to throw away the rule book permanently and kiss her again, could she? Was she seriously wondering what it would be like if she could really make him give up all his disciplined behaviour and complex neuroses, just throw her on the bed and make love to her like a real man?

"Sheldon," she said, his name coming out in an odd wobbly way that she hoped he didn't ask her to explain. "I think you need to go home and figure this one out for yourself," she told him, after one very deep breath and a very hard swallow.

He just stared at her for a moment, clearly bemused by her tone, or maybe even the fact she was blushing, because Penny was pretty sure she was, however uncharacteristic that seemed.

"Very well," he said eventually. "Thank you again... for the haircut," he told her as he turned to leave.

"No problem!" Penny called behind Sheldon as he walked out of her room and then the apartment, the door thudding shut in his wake.

She stood still just staring for a minute or more after he left. One hand shot up to her forehead then, shock registering on her face as she replayed the conversation they just had. Her and Sheldon, they were friends these days, really good friends sometimes. Sometimes he drove her nuts, but then Penny understood she could make him just as crazy, often without even trying. When it came to the crunch they were there for each other, and she would always count him amongst her closest friends, whether she was willing to admit it outloud or not. Everything changed when he kissed her last night, setting off a chain reaction of thoughts and emotions Penny could never have pre-empted. She was suddenly looking at Sheldon Cooper in a completely new way, and honestly, he was looking pretty good.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she muttered, sinking down to sit on the edge of the bed.

Penny had no good answer to give herself to that one.

* * *

"You let Penny cut your hair," Leonard stated pointlessly as Sheldon returned to their apartment.

"I did," he agreed. "Honestly? It's a little Hollywood, but I think I can pull it off," he shugged, heading straight through the living room towards the kitchen.

He stopped short of reaching for a cup to make tea, turning back to look at his friend sat at the desk. There was a conversation he needed to have here, with someone who might be able to give a little insight. Leonard was usually a reasonable source of information when it came to dating. After all, he had a limited but fair amount of experience in the area, certainly more than Sheldon himself. Still, things had felt strained between the two of them since the rules were broken two days ago. Leonard was upset about Sheldon's kissing Penny, and he did understand that, but as he told the blonde herself, he couldn't be sorry for his actions, not honestly.

"Leonard?" he tried, managing to get his friend's attention, even if he did look a little irritated by the interruption. "May I offer you a hot beverage?"

Honestly, Leonard wanted to say yes, but didn't think he should. He was still pretty mad at Sheldon for what happened before with Penny. At the same time, it was hard to blame a guy that barely understood the rules of society and brotherhood that he was breaking. It was unlikely anything of that kind would ever happen again. It seemed silly to hold onto a grudge that wouldn't benefit anyone. He sighed.

"Sure, I'll take a coffee please," he replied politely.

Sheldon smiled and set to making the drinks, a coffee for Leonard, a herbal tea for himself. Leonard had expected that to be the end of their brief conversation, but apparently that was wishful thinking.

"I've come to a conclusion," said Sheldon as he busied himself with the drinks. "It has taken some fairly serious thought. Having considered my life changes, my relationships, the rules I live my life by, I can't say that I have completely made a solid decision on every aspect going forward," he considered, tossing his tea bag into the trash. "However, I have come to this one conclusion - that I must terminate my boyfriend-girlfriend agreement with Amy Farrah-Fowler."

That certainly got Leonard's attention. His eyebrows shot up so far that Sheldon would've expected them to disappear entirely into his friend's hairline if he didn't know that was a physical impossibility.

"You're breaking up with Amy?" he gasped aloud.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Sheldon rolled his eyes. "I am not in a position where I intend to cut her out of my life completely. Amy is a good friend, she is respectful and intelligent enough to be of interest and of use to me," he explained, in the way that only Sheldon could. "However, there are aspects of our established relationship agreement that I am not willing to honour, and that I wouldn't expect her to keep to her side of the bargain when I cannot."

Leonard opened his mouth to answer and then closed it fast. He would like to say Sheldon was being crazy, but that was often true. Unfortunately, on this occasion, he was actually making a weird kind of sense. A person was quite at liberty to break up with another person if they weren't happy in the relationship, and there was just no arguing with the facts. Sheldon didn't treat Amy like a girlfriend anyway. They went on dates, but there was no physical contact, barely even a compliment that passed from him to her. She was interested, maybe even infatuated, but he wasn't.

"Thank you," said Leonard eventually as Sheldon handed him his coffee. "So, you're going back to the single life?" he checked with his friend, turning around on his swivel chair to follow Sheldon's movement to the couch and his usual spot.

"I suppose if that is the terminology you wish to use then, yes, I am," his friend confirmed.

"And you're going back to being you?" he asked next, expanding on his badly phrased sentence when Sheldon made a face at him for faulty grammar. "What I mean is, you're reverting to your previous state of being, complete with rules, sleep patterns, bathroom schedule, and your job at the university?"

"Yes and no," his friend said with a look of deep consideration. "I'm not so sure that going back to what I was is an option anymore, Leonard," he explained. "My experiment in chaos certainly taught me a few lessons, for example, that my body is not well-quipped to handle a high level of alcohol intake, or a lack of sleep," he said seriously. "However, there may yet be things that I could afford to change, that I may in fact find I am better off for having changed."

With that he picked up his tea and headed off to his room, without another word or even a glance back at his room-mate. Leonard sat staring for a long moment, wondering what these things were that Sheldon wanted to change. His gaze shifted as he moved around on his chair and looked towards the front door. He thought of Penny across the hall. She was his girlfriend again, at least for now. Somehow he wondered how long it could really last. He always thought that way, wondering how long before she left him again, for someone better. This was the first and only time he ever wondered how long it might be before she left him for Sheldon.

_To Be Continued..._


End file.
